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by Ben Cohen
Ezra Schwartz, who was killed in a Palestinian terror attack in Gush Etzion in November 2015. Photo: Facebook.
The mother of an American victim of a 2015 Palestinian terror attack in the West Bank issued a clarion call to the international community on Tuesday to pressure the Palestinian Authority (PA) to end its monthly payments to terrorists and their families — a practice which Israel says “incentivizes” terrorism.
“It’s been very difficult for us, but this is an important issue and it needs to be discussed,” Ruth Schwartz — whose 18-year-old son Ezra was murdered, along with two other people, by a Palestinian gunman while sitting in traffic near the Gush Etzion Junction — told The Algemeiner.
Earlier, Ruth Schwartz appeared at a special forum organized by the Israeli mission to the UN and the StandWithUs education group at the UN Headquarters in New York City. “I felt it was important for me as Ezra’s mother to be here, and make a stand,” Schwartz said.
In her address to the forum, Schwartz spoke of the grief that Ezra’s murder had brought upon his family. “Ezra’s death broke our family and our world will never be the same,” she said. “Ezra will never smile again, never bring children to the world. I will never hug him again, or tell him that I love him.”
Schwartz then addressed the international community. “The payments by the PA are just another way to glorify and encourage terrorism — it’s offensive and wrong,” she said.
“I am here to make a simple request,” Schwartz concluded. “Please do not kill. Please do not reward people who kill, because that is as if you are doing the killing yourselves.”
Schwartz told The Algemeiner that she appreciated the welcome she received at the forum. “It was a positive response,” she said. “People were emotional — they felt a connection to Ezra.”
Danny Danon, Israel’s UN envoy, told the gathering that “the reprehensible terrorists who killed Ezra receive more than $3,000 a month from the Palestinian Authority as a reward for killing innocent people.”
“We call on the Security Council to act to cease these payments and finally put an end to the Palestinian support for terrorism,” Danon said.
